1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to data storage devices and more particularly to a portable storage device or a portable card incorporating a data storage device which is capable of having information recorded into and read from the data storage device. The portable storage device or portable card may be in the form of an encodeable card having a magnetic or optical data storage device adapted to be used as a credit card, medical identification card, identification card or the like.
The data storage device utilizes a recording medium or a data storage medium formed on a substrate capable of reliable data recording and reproduction in an ambient natural atmospheric operating environment. Traditional hard disks require a profoundly protected environment for reliable data recording and reproduction. In the preferred embodiment, the data storage device is in the form of a magnetically encodeable credit card having a data storage capability in the order of about 1 megabyte to about 500 megabytes or more.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art magnetically encodeable card, illustrated as 100 in FIGS. 1 through 4, have primary application as financial credit cards. The magnetically encodeable card has an obverse surface or side 102 containing indicia, e.g. typically user and/or bank information and a converse surface or side 104 containing an encoding section shown generally as 106. To insure that magnetically encoded cards can be read by standard card reading devices, the prior art cards are fabricated in accordance with standards promulgated by the American National Standards Institute, Inc. (“American National Standard” or “ANSI”). This is discussed in greater detail hereinbelow. The encoding section 106 is typically a wide magnetic stripe area 110 shown on FIG. 2 and this format is generally used by the AMERICAN EXPRESS® or AMEX® credit card. Alternatively, a narrow magnetic stripe, as shown by dashed line 112 shown in FIG. 2 defining a narrow magnetic stripe area 114, is used by Visa® and most other credit cards. Typically, the substrate for both the VISA® credit card and the AMEX® credit card is formed of polyvinyl chloride (“PVC”) and/or polyvinyl chloride acetate (“PVCA”). VISA®, AMERICAN EXPRESS® and other financial institutions make wide use of magnetically encoded cards for financial transactions. Another known card used for credit or banking transaction is a Smart Card 120 illustrated in FIGS. 5 through 7. The typical Smart Card 120 has an integrated circuit shown as 122 located on the obverse side 126 thereof. The integrated circuit 122 may include a dedicated storage member. The converse side 128 of the Smart Card 120 may be blank or alternatively may include a magnetic stripe area similar to magnetic stripe areas 110 and 114 as illustrated in FIG. 2.